"Unless you have input into the community, you get what you get. The more you can do to make it better, the better it’ll be."
That has been the mantra of Tapanui farmer and former Silver Fern Farms Co-operative chairman Richard Young, saying whether it was through school boards of trustees or kids’ sport — "if you’re not prepared to stand up and do it, you’ve got no right to sit there and whinge".
In his case, that also led to standing for the board of a billion-dollar business, Silver Fern Farms, in 2013, in response to requests from farmers to achieve change within the sector.
"Everything I’ve done or tried to do is about better outcomes for the community or the people in it or better outcomes for agriculture and farmers and young people."
Now on the board of Telford Farms, he and his wife Keri hosted Telford students on their farm for more than 20 years and they became part of the family. They had since been invited to several weddings.
To be involved in getting the farm training institute back to what it was in its heyday was important for both the local community that supported it and for the future of agriculture. Unless farmers were prepared to have young people on their farms and training them, the sector would always have a shortage of staff, he said.
When Richard joined the Silver Fern Farms board in 2013, it was a step up from community-based governance — "but ... if you’re committed and want to make a difference, you’ll make it work".
He loved it, gaining a huge amount of experiences he never would have had. It also wasn’t easy — "I probably lost friends out of it, particularly through the China deal" — but a good outcome was achieved.
There were some highlights, including stepping in to do a boning demonstration at a show in Shanghai, which also gave him a real appreciation what the Silver Fern Farms staff did on the shop floor every day, and leading two farmer tours to China so they could understand the market and the customers, and that whole connection to who bought their product.
It did take him away from his family and the farm and Richard said he could not have done it without Keri and his family.
"I think, at the end of the day, that’s the sacrifices you have to make to try and make a difference."
But he never stopped doing "the day job" — that was the balance — and any time at home was on the farm.
"That was the bit I could go back to what I loved and get out in the fresh air and you could just let your mind be at ease and reflect on what’s been done, by yourself.
A director of Wools of New Zealand, Richard said it was very important to try to make a difference for wool; as a sheep farmer, three positive income streams were needed.
"It’s a challenge worth the fight, I think."
Involved with the Tapanui Golf Club, which provided a venue for the community, not just for golf, he is an Eagles golfer, raising money for junior golf and to support the Halberg Foundation, with funding to help children with disabilities.
Keri was "incredibly proud" of her self-described introvert husband.
"He’s come a long way from someone who would hardly even talk to 10 people let alone a couple of hundred, let alone a thousand. He’s certainly risen to the challenge."
— Sally Rae
